Is the smart home window of opportunity closing for dealers?

With more and more consumers adopting smart home technology, and more and more players moving into the smart home space, this is a pivotal time for security dealers, as the window of opportunity to reconnect with customers—and let them know about all of the interactive services they can now provide as part of the overall security package—will only stay open for so long.

In terms of smart home adoption, almost every day a new study comes out showing that Americans are embracing smart home technology. A recent survey of U.S. adults by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC and CNET finds that 28 percent of Americans own at least one smart home product and almost half of millennials are adopting the technology.

"Smart home technology is catching on because it is changing the way we live in our homes," said Robert Burns, president of Coldwell Banker Mid-America Group. "Not only is it shifting the financial perception of the home, but it's also transforming our emotional connection to our homes. We have entered a transformative era. We believe that in two to three years, homebuyers will expect smart home technology."

Of the early smart home adopters, the research shows that 45 percent of Americans say that, on average, their smart home technology saves them more than $1,100 a year, while 72 percent say smart home products provide them with peace of mind when it comes to home security, and 81 percent said they would be more likely to buy a home if smart technology was already installed.

But while consumers are showing interest in, and adopting smart home technology, a recent study from research firm Parks Associates shows that less than 30 percent of U.S. broadband households are familiar with where to buy smart home products or services.

“In addressing the low consumer awareness for smart home solutions, all players have ample opportunities to make inroads in this early market,” said Eddie Accomando, research analyst, Parks Associates. “Roughly 40 percent of the U.S. broadband households familiar with smart home products or services learned about them from TV or the Internet. In 2016, we are seeing smart home companies develop more robust TV and Internet consumer marketing strategies to reach the consumers who don't know where to buy smart home products.”

This is both good and bad news for security dealers, as this uncertainty of where to go for these products creates an opportunity for them to be that provider, as opposed to an MSO or a retailer.

According to Parks' research, home security providers are not far behind retailers when it comes to being the likely purchase channel for smart home products and services, with 31 percent of broadband households preferring to buy these products from a home security provider, compared with between 35- and 40 percent prefering to buy from retailers, 23 percent from an Internet service provider, and only 12 percent preferring a pay-TV provider.

“To move the smart home from early adopters to the mass market, companies and industry players must address low consumer awareness,” Accomando said.

And this includes dealers, too, who must continue to reach out to their customers. As one dealer said during a session at ESX in Fort Worth earlier this month: “When I hear that one of my customers left us because they didn't realize that we offer these smart home services, it keeps me up at night.”